Someone else claiming my site

timjpriebe's picture

He has: 2,667 posts

Joined: Dec 2004

Well, it finally happened. Someone else claimed (sort of) that they are in some way responsible for one of my sites when they have nothing at all to do with it.

http://tinyurl.com/cc8wp

Sorry for the tinyurl, I just have no desire to up their PR. If you look in the bottom left, there is a link to Coolcollecting.com. I am completely responsible for Cool Collecting.com. In fact, it's the site that got me into web design in the first place. In one shape or form, it's been around for about 6 years now.

Anyone run into this type of thing before?

timjpriebe's picture

He has: 2,667 posts

Joined: Dec 2004

Looks like they've removed the link. Within 30 minutes or so of calling/emailing them, too, so that's good.

What could I have done if they hadn't?

Greg K's picture

He has: 2,145 posts

Joined: Nov 2003

If they were directly calling the image from your server, well you could oh had fun and changed the image... LOL

-Greg

timjpriebe's picture

He has: 2,667 posts

Joined: Dec 2004

Here's the email I received from them:

Quote: Dear Tim Priebe,

OutBurst Hosting allows its customers to suggest sites for the featured site of the week. The sites do not have to be owned by our customers, just some site they think is cool. Your site had to be suggested. We place all the suggestions we receive into a database and they are rotated at random. We receive mostly thanks from webmasters because it drives traffic to their website. We are not implying any association with the featured sites. We apologize for the inconvenience. We will remove your site from our rotation.

With regards,

Support Auction NM

timjpriebe's picture

He has: 2,667 posts

Joined: Dec 2004

And here was my response:

Quote: While I appreciate the thought, I would have appreciated it even more if
this information had been apparent on your site. The lack of any details
made it seem as if you were claiming to be somehow involved in the site.

So while I did not mind the incoming traffic, it was too easy for visitors
to your page to infer an affiliation that didn't exist.

Thank you for your prompt action.

timjpriebe's picture

He has: 2,667 posts

Joined: Dec 2004

And I just got this response. I must say, Outburst has been extremely professional about all this.

Quote: Tim,

That is a very good suggestion. We will implement this within 48 hours.

Thank you
Support OutBurst Hosting

He has: 9 posts

Joined: Nov 2005

lol, people these days! what they will do

02bunced's picture

He has: 412 posts

Joined: May 2005

From their front page now

Quote:
Random Featured Site

The site displayed below is not affiliated with OutBurst Hosting in any manner. The site was referred by one of our customers or staff as a site worth visiting.

Webmaster-forums.net

timjpriebe's picture

He has: 2,667 posts

Joined: Dec 2004

That's too funny! Well, I don't know anything about how they deal with their servers or their hosting, but from this situation, they do seem to be a very ethical company.

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